I started to think you couldn't construct a single-player pokemon campaign that is satisfying the whole way through, but this certainly gave me a kick in the ass. This game is pretty much the perfect pokemon game, and I'm not sure any other games in the series even come close to it. It's simply the best.
The main campaign has a decent little story. You're definitely not playing for the actual story, but it's the best out of every normal pokemon game, not that it's a high bar. What it does perfectly though is guide you through the game. It always felt like a push to keep exploring and moving forward rather than an actual main focus.
The teambuilding is astounding. It manages to give you every tool needed to make an absolutely perfect team with so much room for gimmicks and weather, whatever you want. I ended up running a sort of "hazard stack lite" with webs and rocks. I was able to fall in love with Minior after catching it on route 1. It was always a pokemon I liked but it was nothing I really loved because I never used it in my life. Now it's one of my absolute favorites. I really loved using Metagross and its line. It felt useful the entire game, even in that awkward period where it has to just be an eviolite tank. It became my best pokemon after it could mega. The other super notable pokemon I got was the Zygarde I hunted down. I got it after the 5th gym, and was actually super disappointed by how bad it was. Before the seventh gym I was gonna drop it, but then I taught it dragon dance by tutor and found the tm for earthquake and suddenly it became a complete monster, carrying my lategame on its back.
There is a lot of worthwhile side content in the game too. I took my sweet time combing through every town and doing quite a few missions before I even hit the post-game, and it was all fun. I found most NPCs had something valuable to say, and I think that's super cool. The quest to even get my Zygarde required a lot of exploration.
The game also has a full brand new ost. It's like, a full one, not like Insurgence that just has like ten songs. This game has a great soundtrack that I actually would say is better than the majority of official pokemon games, which I already rank quite high on this front. They definitely nailed the normal battle theme, I can't imagine getting sick of it.
Absolute perfect package. Proof that Gamefreak really are hacks. Fan games like this are what make me stay a pokemon fan throughout the years.
The main campaign has a decent little story. You're definitely not playing for the actual story, but it's the best out of every normal pokemon game, not that it's a high bar. What it does perfectly though is guide you through the game. It always felt like a push to keep exploring and moving forward rather than an actual main focus.
The teambuilding is astounding. It manages to give you every tool needed to make an absolutely perfect team with so much room for gimmicks and weather, whatever you want. I ended up running a sort of "hazard stack lite" with webs and rocks. I was able to fall in love with Minior after catching it on route 1. It was always a pokemon I liked but it was nothing I really loved because I never used it in my life. Now it's one of my absolute favorites. I really loved using Metagross and its line. It felt useful the entire game, even in that awkward period where it has to just be an eviolite tank. It became my best pokemon after it could mega. The other super notable pokemon I got was the Zygarde I hunted down. I got it after the 5th gym, and was actually super disappointed by how bad it was. Before the seventh gym I was gonna drop it, but then I taught it dragon dance by tutor and found the tm for earthquake and suddenly it became a complete monster, carrying my lategame on its back.
There is a lot of worthwhile side content in the game too. I took my sweet time combing through every town and doing quite a few missions before I even hit the post-game, and it was all fun. I found most NPCs had something valuable to say, and I think that's super cool. The quest to even get my Zygarde required a lot of exploration.
The game also has a full brand new ost. It's like, a full one, not like Insurgence that just has like ten songs. This game has a great soundtrack that I actually would say is better than the majority of official pokemon games, which I already rank quite high on this front. They definitely nailed the normal battle theme, I can't imagine getting sick of it.
Absolute perfect package. Proof that Gamefreak really are hacks. Fan games like this are what make me stay a pokemon fan throughout the years.